Auto stocks top losers due to weak Dec volumes

Nifty fell for the second consecutive session on Tuesday. At close, Nifty was down 0.35 per cent or 76.1 points at 21,665.8, while Sensex was down 379.46 points at 71,892.48.

Cash market volumes rose compared to the previous session, but remained below Rs 1 lakh crore. The broad market indices fell less than the Nifty even as the advance decline ratio fell to 0.93:1, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Pharma stocks rose amid higher volumes while auto stocks came under selling pressure due to weak December volumes, Jasani said.

Around 1,691 shares rose, 1,631 fell, while 72 remained constant on Tuesday, said Rajesh Sinha, Senior Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.

Nifty Auto was the top loser, falling nearly 1.3 per cent after December sales data.

The below-expectation numbers led to the fall in the index with Eicher Motors and Ashok Leyland leading losses with a fall of around 3 per cent each.

Eicher Motors, M&M, UltraTech Cement, L&T, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers on the Nifty on Tuesday, while Coal India, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Divis Labs, and Cipla were the top gainers, he said.

The Pharma index rose 2.5 per cent, while Auto, Real Estate, Capital Goods, Bank, and Information Technology indexes fell 1 per cent each. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices finished flat.